Paul Whelan: Last News

Ellise Shafer Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich is set to be released from Russian jail on Thursday as part of a multi-country prisoner exchange deal. According to the BBC, a senior U.S. official confirmed that the Biden administration had reached a deal to free three U.S.

President Joe Biden celebrated the release of Americans held in Russia, including journalist Evan Gershkovich and former U.S. Marine and security director Paul Whelan, calling the deal that made it possible “a feat of diplomacy and friendship.”

Wall Street Journal (WSJ) journalist Evan Gershkovich, who is serving a 16-year sentence in a Russian penal colony on contested espionage charges, could be on the cusp of a freedom as part of a rumored, imminent prisoner swap between Russia and the U.S. alongside Germany.

It was one year ago on Friday that The Wall Street Journal‘s Evan Gershkovich was detained in Russia on espionage charges that the U.S. government has called “fiction.”

can at last speak to her supporters on her own behalf. And on December 21, the WNBA star did just that, with a handwritten letter posted to Instagram thanking everyone who wrote to her while she was in prison.

Brittney Griner spoke out today for the first time since being freed from a Russian penal colony.

Brittney Griner is grateful to be home!

from her Russian detainment than her wife, Cherelle Griner, who spoke about the news at a press conference alongside President Joe Biden. Having been tireless in keeping Griner's name in the news , Cherelle was all smiles as she took to the podium to speak a few emotional words. “So over the last nine months, you all have been so privy to one of the darkest moments of my life, and so today I am just standing here overwhelmed with emotions,” Cherelle said, “But the most important emotion I have right now is just sincere gratitude for President Biden and his entire administration.” Cherelle didn't say a lot about herself, but used her time to thank the “many hands involved” in securing Griner's release, naming Vice President Kamala Harris and several otherwise unknown government officials who'd worked so hard to free Griner. This content can also be viewed on the site it from.Cherelle also hasn't forgotten Paul Whelan, another American prisoner who the Biden Administration was unable to include in the prisoner swap.

Brittney Griner is free.

, Brittney Griner has been released from Russian detention today, December 8, . The outlet is also reporting that she was exchanged for convicted Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout. According to an unamed US official, the WNBA star is now in the custody of the U.S.

U.S. basketball champion Britney Griner has been released by Russia in a prisoner swap and is now in U.S. custody.

to nine years in prison, her lawyer Maria Blagovolina on Monday. Griner was arrested for carrying a single vape cartridge containing less than a gram of hash oil.After six months in pretrial detention, the Phoenix Mercury star player was found guilty of drug possession on August 4.

Brittney Griner's legal team has appealed against the American basketball star's guilty verdict and nine-year prison sentence on drug smuggling charges in Russia, the lawyers said on Monday.Griner was arrested for carrying vape cartridges containing with marijuana in a Moscow airport in February amid soaring tension between Washington and Moscow, and just before Russian leader Vladimir Putin launched his ongoing assault on Ukraine.The athlete was on her way to Yekaterinburg, in western Russia, to play for a local team during the WNBA's off-season.Griner pleaded guilty to the charge but sought leniency, saying that she packed the cartridges inadvertently and marijuana was prescribed to her by a doctor in the U.S. to help her cope with pain from injuries sustained during her basketball career. In early August, a court in the Moscow region found her guilty.Before her trial began in July, the State Department designated her as being «wrongfully detained,» moving her case under the supervision of its special presidential envoy for hostage affairs — effectively the U.S.

Brittney Griner have filed an appeal against her prison sentence, Russian news agencies reported on Monday. Griner, an American basketball star for the Phoenix Mercury and a two-time Olympic gold medalist, was sentenced to nine years in Russian prison after being found guilty for drug possession. Griner was detained by Russian police at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport on February 17 with vape cartridges containing hashish oil in her luggage.

pleaded guilty to the charge against her, admitting to possessing the cartridges but saying they were left in her luggage as part of an oversight while she was packing in a hurry. The U.S. State Department has floated the idea of a prisoner swap, in which the United States would release a convicted arms dealer in exchange for Griner and Paul Whelan, a former U.S.

Basketball player Brittney Griner has been found guilty of smuggling drugs with criminal intent in a Russian court today and sentenced to nine years in prison, CNN reports. The Phoenix Mercury player was detained near Moscow earlier this year after security discovered a small amount of the drug in her luggage.

pleaded guilty to the charge, but insisted she had never intended to break Russian law, and that the vape cartridges were in her luggage due to an oversight while packing in a hurry.The judge also fined Griner 1 million rubles, or about $16,300, as part of her sentence. According to The New York Times, Griner’s lawyers had asked the court to take into account Griner’s personality and the role she has played in the development of Russian basketball playing for EMMC Ekaterinburg in the WNBA off-season, asking for a “milder” penalty.Addressing the court, Griner talked about her upbringing in Houston and the values her parents instilled in her, including to “take ownership for your responsibilities.”“That’s why I pleaded guilty to my charges; I understand everything that has been said against me in the charges against me, but I had no intent to break Russian law,” she said.

Out lesbian US basketball player Brittney Griner was convicted by a Russian court on charges of drug possession and smuggling and sentenced to nine years in prison on Thursday. US President Joe Biden denounced the verdict and sentence as “unacceptable” and called on Russia to release the athlete immediately so that she could be with her “her wife, loved ones, friends, and teammates”. President Biden added that he would work to bring both Griner and Paul Whelan, another American imprisoned in Russia under an espionage charge, home.  Brittney Griner with wife Cherelle.

Hoping for a solution. After Brittney Griner was convicted of drug smuggling in Russia, plenty of WNBA players and other celebrities weighed in to express their support for the athlete.

pleaded guilty to the charge, but insisted she had never intended to break Russian law, and that the vape cartridges were in her luggage due to an oversight while packing in a hurry.The judge also fined Griner 1 million rubles, or about $16,300, as part of her sentence. According to The New York Times, Griner’s lawyers had asked the court to take into account Griner’s personality and the role she has played in the development of Russian basketball playing for EMMC Ekaterinburg in the WNBA off-season, asking for a “milder” penalty.Addressing the court, Griner talked about her upbringing in Houston and the values her parents instilled in her, including to “take ownership for your responsibilities.”“That’s why I pleaded guilty to my charges; I understand everything that has been said against me in the charges against me, but I had no intent to break Russian law,” she said.

American basketball star Brittney Griner was sentenced to 9 years in prison and given a fine of 1 million rubles (approximately $16,500) by a Russian court on Thursday, after she was found guilty of drug possession and smuggling. Prosecutors had asked that she receive 9 1/2 years in prison.The trial concluded nearly six months after Griner's arrest at a Moscow airport in a case that has reached the highest levels of U.S.-Russia diplomacy, with Washington proposing a prisoner exchange.